The Haffenreffer Museum had
a wide ranging collection of archaeological material. The bulk of the collection
was New England lithic material (click here for
example), collected or acquired by museum founder Rudolf Haffenreffer
in the early 20th century. Additionally, the museum held material excavated
by Circumpolar Laboratory researchers, and was
a designated National Repository for Federally-owned collections from the
Arctic. The Museum also held a small number of Maritime Archaic (red paint)
artifacts from Maine, and gem points from the Columbia River basin.

Below is a summary of New England archaeological material
that we saw in the Haffenreffer Musuem collections.

Anthony Collection. Native
American artifacts, mostly from the Bristol area. Collected by Edward Anthony
and acquired by the Museum before 1928. Includes unusual items such as
boat stones, pipes and a steatite goblet. Collector's records unknown.
(Catalog series of Rhode Island artifacts, 7110-7131 and 7229-7262).

Bigelow Collection. Thousands
of Native American artifacts located to town or better. Collected and acquired
prior to 1928. Collector's records unknown. (Catalog number series overlaps
with Richardson Collection.)

Brooks Collection. Seventeen
artifacts of steatite including pipes, bowls, and one "ceremonial"
from the Oaklawn Steatite Quarry. Collected 1946-47 by Perry Brooks, acquired
1952 (uncataloged). Artifact drawings and letter by collector. Reports
on this site, Dunn: 1945 and Fowler: 1967.

Samuel King Collection. Artifacts
attributed to town or better, mostly from vicinity of Warwick. Includes
unusual forms such as a carved human effigy. Collected prior to 1928 and
purchased in that year. Selected items published in Chapin: 1926.

Richardson Collection. Four
thousand artifacts from Rhode Island, mostly located to town or better
(see Riverside Cache). Collected by Clarence Richardson before 1927 and
acquired in that year. Collector's records unknown (Catalog series of Rhode
Island artifacts 1 to 3652 and 4602 4651. Series overlaps Bigelow Collection).

Riverside Cache. Cache of
48 uniform felsite bifaces of the Mansion Inn variety. Part of the Richardson
collection. Found in Riverside. See Figure 2. Also photograph Providence
Sunday Journal, Jan. 20, 1929.

Wheeler Collection. Large
collection of historic and Contact Period artifacts provenienced to town
or better. Collected or acquired by Harrie Wheeler. Two collections: first
collected prior to 1928 and acquired that year, second collected between
1928 and 1950 and acquired in 1985. Two original catalogs. Selected items
published in Chapin: 1924. (Catalog Nos. of Rhode Island artifacts 1/781
to 1/925, 85-176 to 140 and 85-800 to 839).